The blog that goes a bit further.

The Salt of Chapter 84

The most recent chapter of Attack on Titan is out and holy shit is there some salt. People are almost as salty as the ocean Armin talks about.

WARNING! SPOILER ALERT!

To recap, the chapter centers around the deaths of two major characters, as we were told before the chapter was released. The two characters in question are Armin Alert, and Commander Ewrin Smith.

Comander Erwin had been hit with a spray of rocks the ape titain threw at him and a group of soldiers. Armin, in a deversion tactic was burned alive by the colossal titan. The Survey Corps had one vial of titan serium only to be used when it was absolutely necessary, by Captain Levi Ackerman. He told Eren he would use the injection on “The person who would save the world.”

When it came down to it, after nearly being beheaded by Mikasa, Levi was given a choice. Either save the commander who has for years proven that he was willing to sacrifice everything, even his humanity; or this kid who might potential to do the same.

The next few scenes go through flash backs of these two people from the differing perspectives of Levi, Eren and Mikasa.

In the end, he did try to give it to Erwin, but Erwin refused and Levi ended up giving it to Armin.

Now, how do I feel about this? I’m not entirely sure really. I think no matter who Isayama chose to keep alive, it would have still been a heart renching chapter. I thought Ewrin would have been the choice, since that seemed to be where everyone’s logic was going. Even the people who really didn’t like it.

I’m not quite sure what made Isayama decide to keep Armin instead of Erwin. It would have seemed more fit with the incredibly dark path of the story for Alert to die. While he is a brave character, he has yet to prove that he can become a monster. But there where several groups of fans also rooting for Armin, the under dog. Isayama has written to the fans before. His original plan for the series was to kill everyone off, but once people started to like his manga, he found he didn’t want to do that. He now says he doesn’t always know where, or how his series will end. Sometimes he’s just flying by the seat of his pants.

But in all honesty, who the fuck knows? I think that in the final moments of decision, Isayama truly was projecting a bit of himself on Levi, which might be why the choice is so confusing.

Perhaps the story needed a change of heart. A little humanity, or he had sympathy for the character. Perhaps he was writing to his fans.